The never-before-told story of Reverends Lillian Russell and Mildred Long, the two earliest clergywomen in Virginia Methodism is based on years of research of primary sources. During the Great Depression, against all odds, petite, teenage, Lillian traveled from church to church as a powerful, popular evangelist. Then she served as the pastor of the Blandford Methodist Church in Petersburg for thirty-five years covering the decades of World War II and the civil rights and women's movements, forging a path for other women to follow.

When the voices of the world ridiculed and minimized her, closed doors, and questioned her basic right to be there, she had no doubt as to God's claim upon her life. Nevertheless, she preached. After Mildred had attended six schools of higher education, been interviewed dozens of times, and attended hundreds of meetings, proving her competency time and time again to people over her, under her, and beside her; through hurled insults, closed doors, and unfounded doubts, she was granted the same clergy rights as men, opening another path for other women to follow. Nevertheless, she preached.

As you follow these women through fifty years of service to their God, you will laugh with them, cry with them, and feel their hurt, rage, faith, exhaustion, and strength. You will be inspired to nevertheless live your own destiny.